Into the sun

I was in PA for a wedding last weekend, and I took the opportunity to photograph things that I’m normally not able to do. In this case I went into a cornfield and made some images. I have been experimenting with some counter-intuitive methods of making photographs outdoors, since my efforts thus far have been unimpressive. I’ve found that my photographs outdoors have been either poor quality, flat and boring, or else very much like traditional stock photography. Now, there is nothing inherently wrong with the traditional shots – in fact I’m working on building a library of stock images for sale. But as I continue to refine my taste and find style that works for me on a personal level, I want to push myself beyond commercial photography that I make for a living.

So on Saturday, rather than sculpt the ambient light into a nice, easy photo, I turned my camera into the sun in the cornfield and started to play with a wide aperture where there is a lot of light, and a lot of contrast. The result was a series of rather ethereal images, verging on abstraction which I’m really liking. Here are three of my favorites from the shoot.

I’m hoping to build on this concept and style, although I’m not entirely sure about where to go next. And of course with the heat that we’ve been experiencing in the last few weeks I don’t want to be outside at all.